Tag: stripes

Finishing the Coraline gloves was very encouraging, so I wanted another quick fix. I browsed my old Rowan magazines and decided upon a simple hat with stripes and a bobble.

I went through my stash and found some Rowan DK Soft I once found in the the sale bin at a LYS. Not the type of yarn I would go for these days, but nice enough. I had some left over Rowan Kidsilk Haze in a lovely petrol blue shade that went really well with the DK Soft, et voilá! A hat!

Time to prepare for autumn. I have finally finished the Coraline gloves I begun in February.

I love this time of year. Summer nights are longer and cooler, nature begins its preparation for the new season. It’s still too warm for mittens, of course, but it feels good to be prepared, and it’s always nice to have a new pair of mittens or gloves to celebrate the best season of them all.

These gloves are not knitted with any of my favourite yarns, I’ve used a cheap yarn from Drops (wool and alpaca, though, no synthetics), simply because it was difficult to find the shades I wanted in a bulky enough yarn. I regard these gloves as a form of “novely knitting” and made them mostly for the fun of it, not to make a quality product. Sometimes you need those too.

Anyway, the yarn is soft and pleasant enough, but I won’t buy any more of it in a hurry. I prefer 100% wool yarn with more structure and… personality. I expect they will be quite warm and serve their purpose quite well. Most importantly, together with my yellow jacket, I will look a little bit like Coraline, and that’s what I was going for after all! Looking forward to that!

My very first finished knit of 2014 was completed on January 1st. Winter this year is bleak and dreary indeed, and the snow we had in early December is long since gone. The need for warm woolens is still great, though.

This bright and lovely cowl was designed by my good friend Erika Åberg and is available from her and Eva Trotzig’s beautiful book Varmt och stickat. Please visit Erika’s blog Crafts by Wynja.

Söderängskrage

Pattern: Söderängskrage from Varmt och StickatDesign: Erika ÅbergYarn: I’ve mainly used BC garn Shetlandsuld, but there are some odds and ends of other leftover yarns in thereYarn source:Litet NystanNeedles: 3 mmStarted: 19 October 2013Finished: 1 January 2014

My left arm really looks abnormally long in this photo. I assure you, it’s the angle!

I think it fits best when twisted twice

Here’s a detail

Looks great with my coat, I think

Despite my wierd look, I am very happy with this cowl!

So, what’s next? Well, I’m still trying to knit from my stash, which is strangely pleasing. I have no cravings to buy more yarn, I love to look at and touch (and smell!) the yarn in my stash and let it inspire me.

I’ve decided to consider my needs more, and a really do need more cardigans knit from good quality wool, so I’ve decided to revisit the textured cardigan knit from estonian wool I begun in February of 2012, but never finished. Back and both fronts are finished, however, and about half of the first sleeve, which means that it shouldn’t take me too long to complete this project. I’ll let you know how it’s progressing.

This is my time of year. I can’t even begin to explain how much I love autumn. I’ll show you some photos I took today during my lunch break. I work in a truly beautiful part of Stockholm.

Chestnut

Leaves are turning

The grass is still very green

Rose hip

Sculpure park

Striped mittens

This is what I’m working on right now; a pair of striped mittens. I haven’t finished the aran jumper yet, but inspiration took over when I watched Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland a few weeks ago and I had to cast on for a new project. Alice was wearing a pair of sheer striped half-mitts and I just had to make something that reminded me of those. Mine will turn in to much more solid wooly mittens instead, I have very little use for half-mitts and I prefer wool to gauzy fabric. And these mittens will remind me of other Tim Burton movies as well, stripes are a common feature in his world as you probably know.

I picked out some yarn I already had in my stash, I’m quite certain I used both these shades of grey when I knit these gloves many years ago.

The view from my window at work

I have an almost pathological urge to pick up chestnuts when I find them. I try to refrain myself, but it’s difficult.

I hope for a long autumn filled with woolly mittens, hats and scarves.

One might argue that I have enough scarves as it is. One might. I won’t. My shopping went rather well the other day, I am now the proud owner of a brand new spring coat! Unfortunately, it’s too cold to wear it outdoors yet (and why would I wear it indoors, apart from admiring it in the mirror?). I quickly came to the insight that I do not own a suitable scarf to go with my new coat. Well, once again – how lucky I am to know how to knit! I’ve had two hanks of soft Louet merino yarn in light blue and chocolate brown for almost three years that was gifted to me in a swap in the Ravelry Book Club.

Light blue merino

Brown merino

I’ve never really figured out what I wanted to use this yarn for, but yesterday it came to me when I realized I had a need for a new scarf. I knew I wanted it to have stripes and that one of the colours should be blue, and then I remembered these two hanks in my stash. I wound them into balls last night and cast on.